Did Goran Ivanisevic Win the 2001 Wimbledon Championships Just by Hitting Aces?

Home , Ace (tennis), Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman, Wayne Arthurs (tennis)

By Tristan Barnett

Introduction

Goran Ivanisevic defeated Pat Rafter in the final, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7 to win the Gentlemen's Singles tennis title at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships. Ivanisevic became the first unseeded player to win the title since Boris Becker in 1985. He became the first wild card to win a Grand Slam. Before the tournament he was ranked 125th and after the win he climbed 109 places to 16th. He had reached the final three times before (in 1992, 1994 and 1998) but lost each time (to Agassi, and Sampras twice, respectively). Goran Ivanisevic has the most aces in a single season with 1,477 in 1996. He also has the second most in a tournament with 212 when he won the 2001 Wimbledon title. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Wimbledon_Championships_–_Men%27s_Singles

Statistics on aces

Table 1 represents the top 7 players that served the most number of aces on all surfaces in 2001. The average number of aces per match is simply calculated as the total number of aces divided by the number of matches played. For example, Goran Ivanisevic served 801 aces in 51 matches with an average of 801/51=15.7 aces per match. The average number of aces served per match are also given for these top 7 players on a grass court surface. Note the average number of aces per match is biased towards the length of a match, however table 1 still provides useful information as to which players are typically serving more aces. Goran Ivanisevic averaged the most number of aces per match on all surfaces (15.7) and on grass which is played at Wimbledon (23.8).

All surfaces Grass Player Number Matches Average Number Matches Average Goran Ivanisevic 801 51 15.7 238 10 23.8 Gustavo 683 78 8.8 - - - Kuerten Yevgeny 669 97 6.9 70 7 10.0 Kafelnikov Wayne Arthurs 650 43 15.1 113 8 14.1 Greg Rusedski 629 62 10.1 145 12 12.1 Pete Sampras 627 51 12.3 139 8 17.4 Jan-Michael 608 60 10.1 50 5 10.0 Gambill Table 1: The top 7 players that served the most number of aces on all surfaces in 2001. https://www.atptour.com/en/stats/aces/2001/all/all/ https://www.atptour.com/en/stats/aces/2001/grass/all/

Similarly, table 2 represents the top 7 players that served the most number of aces on all surfaces throughout their career as of the 2/10/2019. Goran Ivanisevic is ranked third for the average number of aces per match on all surfaces (13.9) and on grass (21.1). Note that that this average on grass which is played at Wimbledon is only slightly behind Ivo Karlovic (23.5) and John Isner (22.8).

All surfaces Grass Player Number Matches Averages Number Matches Averages Ivo Karlovic 13,580 681 19.9 2,726 116 23.5 John Isner 11,846 650 18.2 1,619 71 22.8 Roger Federer 11,225 1,434 7.8 2,210 212 10.4 Goran Ivanisevic 10,131 731 13.9 1,791 85 21.1 Feliciano Lopez 9,508 909 10.5 1,871 124 15.1 Andy Roddick 9,068 776 11.7 1,461 103 14.2 Pete Sampras 8,713 792 11.0 1,451 105 13.8 Table 2: The top 7 players that served the most number of aces on all surfaces throughout their career as of the 2/10/2019. https://www.atptour.com/en/stats/aces/all/all/all/ https://www.atptour.com/en/stats/aces/all/grass/all/

Statistics at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships

Table 3 represents the opponent and score line for each match played by Goran Ivanisevic at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships. Note the large number of tiebreak games (and score lines of 64, 63, 75 and 97) played in all these matches suggesting that Ivanisevic has a strong serve and relatively weak return of serve.

Round Opponent Score line 1R Fredrik Jonsson (Q) 64 64 64 2R Carlos Moya (21) 676 63 64 64 3R Andy Roddick 765 75 36 63 4R Greg Rusedski 765 64 64 Qtrs Marat Safin (4) 762 75 36 763 Semis Tim Henman (6) 75 676 06 765 63 Finals Patrick Rafter (3) 63 36 63 26 97 Table 3: The opponent and score line for each match played by Goran Ivanisevic at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships. https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/archive/wimbledon/540/2001/draws?matchType=sing les

Table 4 represents match statistics for each match played by Ivanisevic at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships. The average percentage of points won on serve at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships was 64.5%. Therefore, the average percentage of points won on the return of serve is 100%-64.5% = 35.5%. Ivanisevic was above the average percentage of points won on serve in all matches, and from round 2 onwards, Ivanisevic was below the percentage of points won on the return of serve, indicating why there were a large number of tiebreak games (and score lines of 64, 63, 75 and 97) played in all his matches from table 1 (dominate on serve but relatively weak on the return of serve). The % of points won on serve by hitting an ace for each match is calculated as the number of aces served for the match divided by the number of points won on serve. For example, in the first round Ivanisevic served 22 aces for the match and won 60 out of 71 points on serve. Therefore the % of points won on serve by hitting an ace for this match is 22/60=36.7%. Note the relatively high proportion of points won on serve by hitting an ace (ranging from 24.3% in the finals to 47.2% in the 3rd round). Also worth noting is the relatively high percentage of points won on the 1st serve suggesting that Ivanisevic won a lot of points by the serve being unreturnable (even without hitting an ace), indicating that Ivanisevic was possibly trying to hit an ace on every 1st serve.

Match Statistic 1R 2R 3R 4R Qtrs Semis Finals Aces 22 34 42 22 30 35 27 % of points won on serve by 36.7% 37.4% 47.2% 31.9% 29.7% 30.4% 24.3% hitting an ace Double Faults 4 9 5 4 9 12 15 1st Serve 62% 60% 71% 65% 61% 62% 55% 1st Serve Point Won 91% 88% 89% 93% 89% 80% 81% 2nd Serve Points Won 74% 57% 59% 60% 54% 45% 51% Service Points Won 85% 75% 80% 81% 75% 67% 68% 1st Serve Return Points Won 23% 27% 22% 12% 22% 23% 23% 2nd Serve Return Points Won 59% 40% 41% 44% 50% 37% 43% Return Points Won 38% 33% 29% 29% 32% 28% 30% Table 4: Match statistics for each match played by Ivanisevic at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships.

Summary

Given the dominance on serve by Ivanisevic in all matches at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships (in comparison to the overall average percentage of points won on serve as 64.5%), the relatively weak return of serve (in comparison to the overall average percentage of points on return of serve as 35.5%), relatively high proportion of points won on serve by hitting an ace, Ivanisevic averaging the most number of aces per match on all surfaces and on grass in 2001, as well as Ivanisevic averaging a high rank for the most number of aces on all surfaces and on grass for his career (in comparison to other players), suggests that Ivanisevic possibly won the 2001 Wimbledon Championships just by hitting aces.